Staying focused will be tough - Coyle

Bolton manager Owen Coyle has admitted his players are going to find it difficult to keep their minds on the game when they take on Blackburn on Saturday.

It will be the first time Bolton have taken to the field since the harrowing events at Tottenham on Saturday when midfielder Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest that left him fighting for his life.

"You don't move on," Coyle said. "We have a game to play and we have to go and play it. Will it be difficult? Absolutely. Our thoughts are still with Fabrice Muamba."

Muamba is still in intensive care at the London Chest Hospital and was visited by a number of his team-mates on Tuesday.

Coyle has told any of them who do not feel up to playing that they will be excused from this weekend's fixture.

"I wouldn't ask anybody to play who felt they couldn't," he said. "So far, no-one has told me they don't want to be involved.

"There comes a point that we have to play our games and move forward."

Coyle had extensive conversations with Muamba's father Marcel and fiancee Shauna before he left London.

And he was left in no doubt the family wanted Bolton to start playing again.

"I spoke to them for over an hour and they were adamant, Bolton had to play their games," said Coyle. "Everything does pale into insignificance alongside Fabrice's recovery. But we will go out there and do our best."